Improvement in portable capstan and crab



AI ELMER.

Mole-Plow.

Patented- Aug. 9, 1859.

PLFETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON o c UNTTED STATES PATENT QFFIC ASAHEL ELMER, OF SHABBONA GROVE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATHAN ELMER AND R. M. PRIGHARD, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE CAPSTAN AND CRAB.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 25,079, dated August 9, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:-

Be it known that I, ASAHEL ELMER, of

Shabbona Grove, in the county of De Kalb and State of Illinois, have invented certain new useful Improvements in a Portable Oapstan and Crab; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the capstan and crab as mounted on its truckwheels and ready to be transported thereon. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of the machine ready for transportation, and Fig. 3 represents a similar sectional clevation of the machine when the crab is driven into the earth andthe capstan anchored thereby.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the several figures, denote like parts of the machine in all them.

My invention consists in so combining a portable capstan and crab or anchor as that the team or power which draws the machine or works the capstan may also be used for unloading and anchoring the crab, and for loading it up again onto the truck when it is to be transported from place to place.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

1 am fullyaware thatportablecapstans have been used, and that they have been moved about on wheels; and I am also aware that a crab has been carried around on a separate wagon or. truck for anchoring a capstan but I lay no claim to either of these things.

My object is to unite into one perfect machine a capstan and crab or anchor on a set of truck-wheels or other ground-supports, so that the power that draws the machine or works the capstan may be used forsetting the crab or anchor firmly in the ground when the capstan in regard to its peculiar fitness or adaptation to the mole-plow, I would remark that one-half of the labor and expense, or nearly so, in 1naking underground drains byaplow is exp. ruled in loading up, transporting, unloading, and anchoring or fastening the crab and capstan, so that any means of simplifying or cheapening this operation tends to an immense saving in the construction of these underground drains, which are being so universally made in peculiar soils and places with so much advantage to cultivation.

I construct my machine as follows:

A is a pair of front, and B a pair of rear, truck-wheels or grouml-supports, upon which the machine or apparatus is transported from place to place. When wheels are used, as shown, they are fixed upon bent axles a, which rise up high enough to suspend to them the bolster-pieces O O, and on suitable journals on these bentaxles the said wheels turn. The pair of front wheels and their bolster are secured to the frame or reaches D, that connect the two pairs together by-a king-bolt, so that the apparatus may be readily turned around. The rear pair ofwheels, with their bol -ter, may be permanently connected to the reaches or frame D; but in both the front and rear Wheels and their axles are so connected by straps b to the bolster O as that by moving the frame rearward it will drop or descend toward the ground, and by moving it forward it will rise or mount up onto the wheels, the positions depending entirely upon the inclination or vertical position of the bent portions of the axles a. When the bolsters swing in under the bent axles they may be caught and held there by spring-catches or any other kind of fastenings that are readily released again when the frame is to be let down, and for convenience these fastenings may be united to a common lever, so that the operator may throw them in or out at pleasure.

On top of the reaches, rails, or frame D is built up a capstan-frame, E, in which is supported a capstan, F, in the usual well-kuown manner, so as to turn therein by power applied to the sweep Gr, or in any other manner.

Underneath the reaches, rails, or frame I) are placed any suitable number of teeth or flukes, H, which incline rearward, so as to enter the ground when the frame is lowered,

which is done in a rearward direction also, in-

asmuch as the bars and braces c d in front of the bolsters (the wheels being presumed to be blocked and stationary, as they are when the frame is lowered or raised on them) would prevent the frame from swinging forward when the axles are in their vertical position.

e e are friction-rollers for the cable to run against, and f is a small Windlass, furnished with lever-holes and a hook, pin, or other device, to which the cable may be connected for any slight movement of the machine by hand before it is ready for the team or greater power to be applied,itbeing a matter of convenience onlv.

g is the main cable that winds around the capstan,and to which the plow or other heavy body to be moved is connected.

it t'j are ropes or cables,which may all unite in a common ring or thimhle, it, through which the main cable g may pass. for an object that will be mentioned in connection with the operation of the machine. Of these three cables one. h, passes through holes in the crosspieces of the frame, and is connected to the bar 0 on the front axle. The others, ij, connect in a similar manner with the bars 0 c of the rear axle.

m is the hounds, and n the draft bar or hook, by which the machine is drawn from place to place. It is fastened to the main frame, because by being fastened there instead of to the axle or wheels it performs an important duty in loading up the capstan and crab.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The apparatus having been drawn by the team or power that operates it to the place where it is. to be anchored, the wheels are blocked so thatthey cannot move,thecatches of the axles are released, the cable g is run out and fastened to the plow-beam or other body to be moved, and the team is hitched to the sweep G. So much being done, the apparatus stands as it is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The team is now started, and the capstan winds up the cable g, and the moment its slack is taken up It first pulls backward and downward the frame D, which until'th en was but loosely suspended to the axles a, said axles also turning in their wheels, which are blocked to hold them fixed to admit of this descent of the frame. The tlukes H strike the gro'und,and the power of thccapstan continuing, they are drawn in deeper and deeper until the frame D comes to the ground, where it is rigidlyheld,and not being capable of any further movement thepower of the capstan is then communicated through the cable g to the plow or other body, drawing it up to itself. When the frame is drawn down onto the ground, as shown in Fig. 3, the otherparts of the apparatus are in the positions shown in said figure. Now, suppose the plow or other body to have been drawn up close to the capstan, and that it (the capstan)must be carried forward to anew position. The team is taken from the sweep and hitched to the drag-piece a. The ring 70 or its connected cables h i j are locked or fastened to the main cable. The sweep is run' back so as to slack up the cable g, and the team is started forward. Of course the frame must go forward by the power of the team; but the wheels cannot, because they are held to the main cable by the cables h ij, and the main cable is still fast to the plow. Hence the frame in going forward must also rise with the bent axles to which it is attached until the bolster-blocks swing under the axles and the axles are in avertical position. The springcatches immediately lock the axle and bolster, the ring 70 is let go, and the capstan and crab are loaded up onto the truck again, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and ready to be transported elsewhere.

The frame may of course be suspended to sleds, drags, or any other ground-support, so that it'may swing off and on by the power of the team in the same manner-substantially as on wheels; but the wheels are preferable. Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

So combining with the truck wheels or ground-supports acapstan and crab and a flexible rigging as that the power of the team that draws the apparatus and works the capstan may be used for setting or anchoringthe said crab and capstan, as well as to raise it up, reload it onto the truck, and transport it from place to place, substantially as described.

. ASAHEL ELMER.

Witnesses:

E. ()oI-IEN, THos. H. UPPERMAN. 

